Facebook ‘likes’ and businesses: when’s it worth the investment?

When was the last time an American consumer has gone a day without reading or hearing a company ask to like them on Facebook? Unless he or she went camping for a weekend and shut off the mobile phone, odds are extremely low.

But is it really worth the investment? It's very cheap from a cost perspective compared to other channels, but do all businesses need it?

Here are three important factors to consider:

Â· Message: Facebook is all about engagement. If you're not on it, you can't be a part of the conversation. However, the message must be relevant. It can be a very effective form for customer service and feedback and the occasion special offer (so as long as that is keep to a minimum). If people really want offers all the time, they'll already be a part of your weekly emails.

Â· Scale: Very few businesses can obtain the scale of Coke Rewards or JetBlue with hundreds of thousands of followers. But is there a point to a page if you can only host a few hundred at maximum? The first bullet point stated if you're not on it, you can't be part of it, though if there aren't enough people to talk about it, should it exist? Host the Facebook party if you know you can make it a great one with fans in the thousands so there's excitement to it.

Â· Consistency: Starting a Facebook page is like wanting a dog: most don't truly realize the hard work and long-term commitment it takes to raise it and keep it healthy. Worst thing to see is a Facebook page even more than a week behind on updates, so go all in with it.

Social media marketing and customer loyalty engagement will be key discussion points at the upcoming Loyalty World USA event in Las Vegas, October 29th-31st.

The world's leading B2C brands will be presenting case studies and their strategies, so if you are looking to refine your loyalty and customer retention campaigns, you need to attend.